A drawing of the Seated Virgin, dressed in voluminous drapery, and the Infant Child blessing, on her lap.

This study for the group the Virgin and Child is related to the altarpiece of the Madonna and Child with St Boniface, St Francis and Pope Boniface VIII by Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta, now in the church of San Tommaso in Formis, Rome. The painting was commissioned for the Caetani Chapel in the old Basilica of St Peter and it is the last known work by the artist.

Two preparatory drawings for the painting are extant. A study in black chalk for the group of the Madonna and Child (London, Private Collection), squared for transfer, and a study for the figure of St Francis (New York, William H. Schab Gallery). The pose of the Madonna and Child is very similar to that of the present drawing. However, here, the Virgin’s right arm is raised and the quality of the drawing is more sculptural and polished than in the chalk study. This drawing probably represents a first idea for the composition and shows the shift of the artist’s late style from his earlier Perinesque technique to the plastic elements of form employed by his contemporaries under the influence of Michelangelo.